Amen Dunes‘ second single off his upcoming LP Freedom, out March 30th via Sacred Bones, is called “Blue Rose.” It is the follow-up to “Miki Dora,” a song Damon McMahon says is about “the most gifted and innovative surfer of his generation.” But, McMahon goes on to add that he was a “living contradiction; both a symbol of free-living…and of the false heroics American culture has always celebrated.” Thus making him a perfect character in McMahon’s exploration of the “distorted male psyche.”
The “Blue Rose” continues this saga while possibly narrowing the autobiographical distance between himself and his recently mythologized character. The artist added an air of mystery to the new song by explaining today via Facebook:
“If Freedom as a whole is a relinquishing of the various definitions of self, and the self in ‘Miki Dora’ was that of a mythical heroic maleness, ‘Blue Rose’ is the exploration of its origins in the struggle between a young man and his father.”
The video for the track is directed by Alex Goldberg, and it explores the search for male identity with poetic imagery that casts McMahon alongside a group of young men. The aimlessness of youth seems to be both questioned and celebrated in the video while these guys smoke up, play video games, and skateboard. As a contrast to the group, and all that might symbolize, McMahon embodies a lone spirit, with the singer seen intimately reciting his biting confessional from some bedroom outpost. Ultimately, with its’ nostalgia for the freedoms of youth set against the backdrop of a mythic struggle between father and son, coupled with images of McMahon as a basement loner, this video returns Amen Dunes to where it all began…
